I am forwarding this memo to be distributed to Town Council & County Commissioners prior to the Feb 25 Airport workshop. This memo documents the study done by START Bus staff last fall. This study presents ball park estimates of the cost of numerous options for providing public transportation to the airport. This study is not specifically included in the agenda for the workshop but I believe it would be helpful, for each of you, to review this memo prior to the workshop. START MEMORANDUM TO: START Board FR: Michael Wackerly, Director START Bus DT: December 13, 2012 RE: Analysis of Public Transportation Options for Jackson Hole Airport As discussed at several recent START meeting we have been directed by the Town and County to conduct a study on this topic. The START Board gave some direction to this study at the past meeting and this memo summarizes the efforts on this study to date. As background the 2010 study exploring options available for providing enhanced service, was reviewed. The conclusion of this study did not recommend the initiation of START bus service between Jackson and the Jackson Hole Airport at this time. The technical analysis, consisting of three statistically-significant surveys of residents, airport passengers, and employees, does not provide compelling evidence of latent and transit-supportive demand for such service. The study did suggest an opportunity to experiment with subsidies to bring down the cost of existing airport oriented transportation options. Note: Residents of the affordable housing development across from Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis have sent a letter in support of public transit to the airport (including a stop at Gros Ventre Junction.) The survey data compiled in the 2010 study was analyzed as a first step in the current study. The next step in the study was the collection of additional data. The airport provided the following; 1. A copy of the current contract with Alltrans for the shuttle service. This contract expires on June 30, 2013. 2. Flight schedules for all months of the year. 3. Shift times for all workers at the airport. 4. Fares for the existing shuttle are: Town of Jackson: $16. Teton Village: $26. This data was analyzed to develop possible service schedules and cost estimates. Alternate 1- Frequent START Bus Service- the START board directed staff to develop an ideal schedule for public transportation to the airport, as a starting point. The staff used the shift times and flight schedules to determine that the ideal schedule would consist of service from Teton Village through the town of Jackson and to the airport. The service would begin in time to deliver employees and passengers to the airport by 5 AM and run once every 30 minutes, with the last run leaving the airport after the last work shift ends at 11:30 PM. The estimated annual operating cost of this service would be $1,400,000. The initial capital cost to purchase 5 buses to run this service (four 25 ft buses and one 40 ft bus); including one spare bus would be $700,000. If it assumed that the average ridership would be 3 riders per run and the fare was $10 fare revenue would amount to $400,000 per year. This level of ridership would probably take at least a year of service to be realized; therefore the subsidy would likely need to be higher during the first year. It is important to realize that due to the number of buses that would need to be added to the fleet; START Bus would not be able to implement this alternate with its own bus fleet until the new maintenance facility is constructed. Alternate 2- Private Vendor- Existing Shuttle Plus- Based on my analysis of this issue, over the last few years, I believe the most cost effective solution would be to subsidize one of the private operators to provide expanded public transportation from the airport. This recommendation is based on the fact that one of the private operators (Alltrans) already has a contract to provide shuttle bus service for each incoming and departing flight. The complaint about this existing service is that it only stops at hotels and that the fare is too high. Subsidizing this service would enable the service to be expanded to include more stops and to lower the fare that is charged. The proposed system will include runs to meet the schedules of airport employees. This may require runs to be added to the existing Alltrans shuttle schedule. I would also recommend that park and ride lots (that provide overnight parking) be established in town and at Stilson. Service to these lots would be included in the expanded private operator shuttle service. An analysis of this alternative was also conducted. It was assumed that two additional runs per day would be made. The cost of contracting for this service has been estimated at $600,000 per year. If it assumed that the average ridership would be 5 riders per run and the fare was $10 fare revenue would amount to $300,000 per year. Something in the range of $300,000 of local funding would be needed annually. Please note that in response to an October 26 newspaper article on this study; John Pearson (of Alltrans) emailed me his concerns about this article. It was his opinion that the cost estimates in the study are too high. The only way to obtain a more accurate cost estimate of this second alternative is to write a Request for Proposals (RFP), and solicit proposals from private vendors. Alternate 3- Employee Shuttle Service- with a private vendor to provide a shuttle service designed to serve employees. This alternate would be run next summer on a trial basis. This service would be open to the public and some airline passengers should be able to take advantage of it. The service would be designed through use of the data on employee shifts and residence locations provided by the airport and by survey of airport employees conducted prior to finalizing the RFP. A preliminary cost estimate is $70,000 for the summer season. We will also consider the effect on ridership on this service of the price and amount of employee parking at the airport. Note: based on an employee survey conducted by the airport (November 2012) less than 20 employees would ride the service described in this alternate. The airport provided the following Synopsis of the results of the survey:: While about half of the employees surveyed are generally interested in public transportation, only a small minority would be interested based on the stops and times proposed and only if the shuttle were $5 or less per day. The most common reason for choosing to take mass transit or not was the concern over being able to make it home if they were required to stay late at work or had to leave work early for an emergency Alternate 4- Employee Shuttle Service -including Moose- This alternate is the same as #3 with the addition of two trips to Moose each day to serve GTNP employees. Alternate 5- Subsidizing Lower Fares on Existing Alltrans Shuttle. (Alltrans) already has a contract to provide shuttle bus service for each incoming and departing flight. The complaint about this existing service is that it only stops at hotels and that the fare is too high. Subsidizing this service would enable the service to be expanded to include more stops and to lower the fare that is charged. Alternate #2 is similar to this alternate. The difference is that alternate #2 would replace the Alltrans contract with the airport with a completely new contract to entirely fund the shuttle service. Alternate #2 would also add runs to meet employee schedules. Alternate #5 would not replace the Alltrans contract, and would not add runs but add a few stops to existing runs and would subsidize the fares collected to reduce the cost to the rider. The current Alltrans contract includes bus stops at all hotels (in town and Teton Village) and the Aspens/Racquet Club. This alternate would add (On call) stops at the Teton Village (START Bus stop), Stilson, Kmart, Town Parking garage, START Bus stop at St Johns Hospital, Home Ranch, Gros Ventre junction, and possibly one or two more stops in the Town of Jackson. This alternate would also include the availability of free over night parking at Stilson and the Town Parking garage. Alltrans would have the right to require reservations to guarantee pick up or drop off. The Alltrans web site lists the shuttle fares as: Town of Jackson: 1 way-$16. Round Trip-$31 Aspens/Raquet Club, Teton Village: 1 way-$26. Round Trip-$47 Jenny Lake Lodge (Summer) 1 way-$35. Round Trip-$70 Jackson Lake Lodge (Summer) 1 way-$45. Round Trip-$90 Colter Bay Village (Summer) 1-way-$50. Round Trip-$100 Please Add 6% Sales Tax This alternate would not subsidize trips to GTNP. This alternate would use funds provided by the Town, County, and/or the airport to subsidize these fares to lower the cost to the rider. This alternate would charge riders a specified per cent of their normal fare (say 50 % ) and Alltrans would bill START Bus for the difference. Bill would show number of riders per run by each fare type. START Bus would have the right to audit billing data by random checks of bus ridership. Fares from Gros Ventre Junction would be same as airport pick ups; fares for Stilson would be an average of Jackson and Teton Village fares. This alternate also has the advantage that it could be implemented with very little lead time.